Rising tensions can be a danger to company culture…
To help your team become more comfortable with conflicts, leaders need to encourage constructive communication about them.
Kate Yuan, startup adviser, investor & operator
Takeaways of Note:
DON’T THINK OF FEEDBACK AS “NEGATIVE” – stop thinking of feedback as “positive” or “negative”—there’s only helpful feedback
INSTEAD OF GETTING DEFENSIVE, GET CURIOUS – when a conflict arises, desire to learn what happened (What just happened? What else might be going on? Is there a bigger picture to this story? What are our options moving forward?)
APPLY THE “ABC” MODEL – “Aiming” for the person (convey empathy, show care & lessen the chances of the receiver becoming defensive); “Behaviors” you observed in/from the other person (omitting assumptions, feelings, or judgment – merely what you observed happen); “Consequences”/impact of those behaviors (calling someone out puts them on the defensive – focus mainly on the impact)